Here are some of the responses I received from everyone. Not everyone offered input but many did and as you'll see, a common concern was the controversial bonuses awarded to the bottom 6(B6) and the "Sidney Crosby" bonus (SC). Here are the suggestions received from the 24 MLD GMs.

1) Remove ALL off season bonuses
2) ~
3) Elimination of Crosby Bonus and maybe extend goalie career TOI to 300
4) ~
5) Would also be up for changes
6) Would like to be able to protect more than 1 player, perhaps 3.
7) ~
8) ---
9) Nix ALL offseason bonuses
10) Possibly have 2 FPs, 1 Fwd, 1 D-man
11) ------------NEW GM------------------
12) ---
13) ---
14) Nix Bonuses as it appears to be promoting intentional tanking
15) Wouldn't object to doing away with the bonuses
16) ~
17) "Tanking and not playing with a full roster (ie....stockpiling players for the
""Go for it season"" or high draft pick and player bonuses) would be my main
concerns"
18) ~
19) ---
20) Has no problem doing away with bonuses
21) ~
22) possibly get rid of the SC bonus
23) add a season for both FP and regular skaters, but leave the G the same. Please keep playoff rules the same. I think that levels the playing field so GMs can't stack their rosters come post season
24) Lose the bonuses

I had an idea last night that I thought I'd throw out for discussion. It was not brought up in the questionnaire but I think its something we could consider. Read on and feel free to voice your thoughts on it.

Ever since we adopted the league-wide rule where only skaters who play 20+ regular season games are eligible for playoff rosters, the results have been pretty steady and that rule change is doing what it was intended to do, top regular season performers go deeper into the playoffs. I'm not 100% sure but I believe since this rule came into effect, the MLD Cup has been won by either a #1 or #2 seed from either conference.

Its great to see the teams who finish 1 and 2 do so well, that was what the rule change was made for, but I can't help feel for the lower seeded playoff teams who go into the playoffs these days sort of knowing their fate......a fate that doesn't include going the distance to win the Cup.

I sort of miss the days where an underdog lower seed stunned everyone to win the Cup........but I also enjoy seeing the top performers do so well in the playoffs...... so what could be done about this?

I've been racking my brain these last few seasons and a possible solution finally came to me last night........it'd no doubt be controversial and would take some getting used to but it might work. Hear me out.

My idea?? A sort of "hybrid" mix where we mix the current setup(20+ reg game = playoff eligible) with our old set up. (use any player)

example
Season 41 = any player is eligible for playoffs, no roster restrictions for playoffs.
Season 42 = only playoff eligible players are skaters with 20+ regular season and the top 2 goalies with the most reg season TOI
Season 43 = any player is eligible for playoffs, no roster restrictions for playoffs.
Season 44 = only playoff eligible players are skaters with 20+ regular season and the top 2 goalies with the most reg season TOI
Season 45 = any player is eligible for playoffs, no roster restrictions for playoffs.
Season 46 = only playoff eligible players are skaters with 20+ regular season and the top 2 goalies with the most reg season TOI
Season 47 = any player is eligible for playoffs, no roster restrictions for playoffs.
Season 48 = only playoff eligible players are skaters with 20+ regular season and the top 2 goalies with the most reg season TOI
etc

Having a setup like this could add a nice touch to the MLD and add another level of strategy. Thoughts?

While there haven't been the number of upsets in the playoffs, I personally think it's way more frusturating when, your team may do well in the regular season because other GMs are doing whatever with their rosters, make it to the playoffs, and then bring out all of the 100 players for the playoffs. To me that just isn't fair.

I think if you use a system like this one okp, then you should increase a players' salary every other year also since they are eligible for the playoffs. I think by doing this, you would eliminate tanking for the most part.
As far as the bonus is concerned, if you do away with those, then I think you should get a better quality draft, especially for forwards. In looking at the forwards available the last few seasons, there has been no one that really stood out as a stud. You have several very good defensemen every draft, but hardly any exceptional forwards.

1/ NO way should players who don't play regular season play in the playoffs. Aside from stacking a team... I personally could have tried for the 8 seed this season then rolled out a completely different team for the playoffs... I know it doesn't guarantee wins because all the teams would be stacked, but it would cost me NOTHING to try. As stands, there is a decent cost for trying to win in the playoffs; if you want playoff success you have to lose player seasons of eligibility.

2/ I disagree with ideas to lengthen player careers, or juice the draft. The end effect of such types of changes would be more "100" players in the league, getting there faster. While having better players is important for a team to win, and reassuring to us as team managers, more better players lowers the standard of the game. We have all seen that as players increase their ratings, they rarely become better scorers, they become instead better defenders and playmakers. You put two 100s on a line with a 60 and the 60 ends up taking all the shots. The 100s on opposing teams cancel each other out, it's the 60s, 70s and 80s who make the difference.

3/ With that said, the way the sim works now IS that the best, DEEPEST teams win. Which is as it should be, shouldn't it? We have seen owners get there through different means. I have won by developing probably 99% of my own players through the draft, corbs accelerates the process through extensive trading. The reason that I believe the non-playoff and SC bonuses have been disregarded has been that getting one stud player has very little effect on an MLD team, unlike in real life. I actually saying that as reinforcing the need for those bonuses, because teams which end up on the bottom in this league genuinely need team wide infusions of skills.

4/ What I'm hearing is that there's a bit of discomfort with the idea that half the teams in this league are in a Go For It window, and the other half are in Don't Even Try. With the secrets of success being either player development or player acquisition, I don't see any honest way to legislate parity into this league. You're simply always going to have teams at different points in their development cycles, unless some kind of nuclear option was enacted and we rebooted like Star Trek.

So... did I just, in essence, say "don't change anything?" Maybe I kinda did. I suppose what I'm thinking is that the ideas presented strike me as tinkering. So I have to ask, is there any movement or rustling afoot to REALLY change this league?

These are just discussions right now, mainly I wanted to discuss some of the feedback I received from everyone in the brief questionnaire that was sent out...... some of the "undecided-on-renewal" GMs are waiting to see what/if rule changes are gonna happen before deciding their MLD future...

I threw that controversial "hybrid" idea out here to get the ball rolling. You guys have pointed out flaws with it and backed it up with valid reasons/concerns, I now agree......a hybrid setup wouldn't be ideal.... I just wish there was some way an 3rd- 8th seed could stun everyone a win a Cup......(I'm gonna crunch some numbers and see exactly how the MLD Cup Winners have finished since we made the 20+ = playoff eligibility....will post my findings here when I do.)

Very good points across the board damag. I strongly agree that the quality of the players in the draft is good where it is now.....it allows them plenty of room to grow.....if players have higher skills right away, things become a bit more watered down, "perfect players" become more frequent and we could get stuck in another "dead puck era"

The removal of all off season draft bonuses seemed like a common concern,
9 GMs mentioned some form of bonus renewal.
I'm one of those 9 GMs who'd like to see all the offseason bonuses nixed.......but alas, I may be biased lol.......I haven't received one of those bonuses in the longest time.......(I'm 1 of 5 teams who has never had an SC bonus and the last time I got a B6 bonus was waaaaaaay back in the Yr12-13 offseason),
I also might be biased towards scrapping them because, well, being the commish who manually does the work for them every offseason.......lol after almost 40 seasons, its become a bit tedious. lol

lol I suppose I should update the fact I haven't gotten a B6 bonus since Yr12-13 offseason.......was getting my team ready for the upcoming draft and it looks like I'm due to get a tiny B6 bonus in the current offseason. (5th pick overall, good for +4 skill bumps to my 1st

Ok time to get my geek on and dig into some MLD history for some research.

Since I can't remember the exact season we switched to the 20+ regular season games = playoff eligible....I'm just gonna start from last season and work backwards...and see if I can figure it out in the process.

Just one thought on the numbers from seasons 22,25,and 26 those 4 and 5 seeds that won were from the same division as the number 1 seed and probably would have been the second best team (by points) in the conference

I agree strongly with a lot of Damag's points I would be in favor of keeping the bonus for the individual draft picks , one other thought on someone suggestion on having more than one FP I kind of like that idea or maybe even just to be able to keep one or two FUTURE FP down on the farm as long as they don't play any games, this way if you have 2 top players retiring at one time you could use both as FP (obviously only one at a time) .

Until season 26 or so I never sat an FP didn't even know it was allowed, but then I saw other teams doing it, and I did it too at least 2 seasons, it didn't really have any payoff but I notice that ALMOST every GM sits players during seasons, since we started the 20+ rule but if we are even sitting FP's what the sense of not being able to carry an extra one or two as long as they don't play any games...more of a headache policing I guess..

I need to take some time and think before I post more thoughts...but I like the discussions....